Thread: IN: Indiana considers immigration bill

PLEASE ATTEND THIS MEETING IF YOU LIVE IN INDIANA - VERY IMPORTANT TO SHOW STRONG SUPPORT!

Indiana considers immigration bill

Overflow crowd expected at hearing on Arizona-style law.

South Bend Tribune
January 30, 2011
By KEVIN ALLEN
INDIANAPOLIS, IN

A battle over Arizona-style immigration enforcement is coming to the Indiana Statehouse this week.

Supporters of the crackdown say all states need to do something about illegal immigration if the federal government isn't going to tackle the issue.

Opponents say what's being offered in state legislatures will be expensive to enforce while not doing much to solve the problem.

The proposal from Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, is at the center of the debate in the General Assembly.

His Senate Bill 590 is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Pensions and Labor.

He said in a news release that he expects an overflow crowd.

"It's hard for me to get past the idea that some people think it's OK to turn a blind eye to the lawlessness, the exploitation of very "cheap labor for profit" and the "exploitation of human beings" that's going on today by businesses not only across the country but in the state of Indiana," Delph said in an interview.

"I consider it modern-day "slavery."

"I'm gonna fight it. I think it's wrong."

Allert Brown-Gort, an immigration policy expert at the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies, said immigrants account for only about 5 percent of Indiana's population. And, nationally, about three out of every four immigrants in the United States is here legally.

"One of the biggest problems with the Arizona debate," he said, "is it equates being Latino with being an immigrant. It equates being an immigrant with being illegal. It equates being here illegally with being a criminal. And it basically tells people they're not wanted here."

Delph's S.B. 590 will require police officers who stop anyone for breaking a law or ordinance to ask for proof that the person is here legally if there is "reasonable suspicion" to believe otherwise.

The bill will also require the Indiana Office of Management and Budget to estimate how much illegal immigration costs the state and send Congress a written request to be reimbursed for that amount.

There is also a provision barring state and local governments from using a language other than English for correspondence.

S.B. 590 also would strengthen penalties for businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

Companies would be prohibited from knowingly hiring them, and the state could take away a business license from any employer with three violations. Employers that use the federal E-Verify system to confirm whether a person is legally employable would be immune from the penalties.

Brown-Gort acknowledged that U.S. immigration policy has serious issues, but he said enforcement is only one part of the solution.

"What needs to be done is we need to have a comprehensive program, one that recognizes we have certain economic demands. Let's put in place a guest-worker program, maybe increase the number of visas," he said.

"I'm not saying it's easy, because it's a complicated issue, but those are the types of things you have to do," he added. "You have to attack the issue from all sides."

And if S.B. 590 is going to require an accounting of how much illegal immigration costs the state, Brown-Gort said it should also calculate the economic benefits.

The costs of illegal immigration are often localized, he said, and the benefits are diffuse. For example, people notice immigrants in emergency rooms, but they don't consider that food prices are lower because of their labor.

Delph said he has no problem with estimating the benefits, but, he added, "That still doesn't erase the fact that they're breaking the law."

Immigration isn't a new issue for Delph. This is the fourth straight year he's introduced a bill on the topic.

In the past, his proposals have always won support in the Republican-controlled Senate but fallen apart in the Democratic-held House of Representatives. The GOP has majorities in both chambers this year.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said "it's important to send a message to Washington" on immigration.

"I hope 50 states pass immigration bills in this country," Long said, "because only then do I think the federal government will respond to this and do their duty and get a national immigration bill in place."

But at least one senator sees a downside to that approach.

Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, said immigration should remain the federal government's job, and the nation would be better off with a uniform policy than a patchwork of 50 state laws.

Local police departments, he added, already are stretched financially enforcing existing laws.

Broden also said he's concerned about what qualifies as "reasonable suspicion" to justify asking a person for proof they are here legally. "I have a problem with that because I don't know how a reasonable suspicion can mean anything other than how they talk or what they look like," he said.

Delph said the bill provides that race and national origin will not be criteria in determining reasonable suspicion, but whether a person can speak English would be grounds for asking if he or she is here legally.

"With our (current) immigration policy, I think it invites more racial tension because people make assumptions about other groups of people," Delph said. "If we can establish the rule of law and show that everybody's under that rule of law, I think that will help breed confidence that those that are in the country are lawfully able to be here."

Brown-Gort said the same people who complain the federal government isn't doing anything about immigration have opposed what he considers reasonable proposals, such as the DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to earn citizenship after six years if they complete a college degree or two years of military service.

Delph has described the DREAM Act as an amnesty program, and he said those who call for comprehensive immigration reform really just want amnesty.

"They want to have a blanket pardon that would give citizenship to everyone unlawfully in the country," he said.

Coincidentally, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is one of the sponsors of the DREAM Act. Delph is considered a potential challenger when Lugar, a fellow Republican, runs for re-election in 2012.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article ... 301/-1/XML

here is a copy of the bill

SENATE BILL 590
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1172926.html